Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer told state Democratic leaders that she would have come forward with her claims of political retribution against Governor Christie’s administration sooner if the governor wasn’t a former U.S. attorney, according to a letter obtained by The Record.

Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer.

Zimmer sent a letter Monday to Senate President Stephen Sweeney, Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto and the co-chairs of the legislative panel investigating the George Washington Bridge scandal – state Sen. Loretta Weinberg and Assemblyman John Wisniewski – raising concerns about a bill Christie has proposed that would require public officials to immediately report misconduct.

The mayor waited eight months before coming forward with her allegations against Christie’s office. In the letter she tells the lawmakers that she consulted the city’s redevelopment attorney, Joseph Maraziti, last May when the alleged incidents happened.

Zimmer includes with her letter photo copies of undated journal entries, which were not part of the pages she publicly disclosed earlier this year when she first made her allegations on MSNBC in January. She later met with the U.S. attorney’s office, at its request, and turned over her journal entries.

“We decided that Christie has friends throughout the U.S. attorney’s office,” she wrote in the newly disclosed journal pages. “Not much chance in getting help from them and it could create a nightmare for us.”

The letter was first reported by NJ.com Tuesday. Through a spokesman Zimmer declined to comment on the letter Tuesday.

When Christie announced last week that he was following some the recommendations of a team of attorneys he hired to conduct an internal investigation of his office, he also proposed a bill, which would require public officials to immediately report misconduct to the proper authorities.

“Prompt reporting by government officials and employees of potential unlawful behavior or conduct by those who hold positions of public trust helps to ensure proper and effective investigations and swift corrective action, which helps to restore the public’s confidence in its government,” Christie’s proposed bill states.

If the bill were to become law, a public official who does not promptly report wrongdoing could be charged with a disorderly persons offense.

Zimmer said after Christie proposed the bill, she felt the need to explain why she waited to report her claims.

Zimmer has alleged that she was pressured by Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and Richard Constable, commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs, at separate events last May to fast track a development supported by the governor or risk losing Superstorm Sandy aid.

The developer, The Rockefeller Group, was being representing at the time by the law firm of David Samson, a Christie confidant who resigned as chairman of the Port Authority’s board last month.

She later alleged that Marc Ferzan, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Rebuilding and Recovery, pressured her to support development in her city. Guadago, Constable and Ferzan have denied Zimmer’s allegations.

But Zimmer said there could be serious repercussions to the law.

“A law that punishes people for not coming forward immediately could, intentionally or otherwise, have the effect of preventing wrongdoing from coming to light rather than promoting its disclosure,” Zimmer wrote.

Weinberg said she received the letter and read Zimmer’s concerns about Christie’s proposed legislation.

“I don’t have any thoughts on it,” she said. “I’m assuming that people usually know that when something illegal happens they’re supposed to report it and maybe if Christie’s office had looked into some of these things earlier we wouldn’t be having these conversations.”

Weinberg raised questions about the lane closures at the George Washington Bridge last year before The Record obtained an email showing a top aide to the governor sent an email calling for “traffic problems” in an act of political retribution against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich. Christie fired that aide, Bridget Anne Kelly, a deputy chief of staff, and then hired attorneys to conduct the internal investigation. Those lawyers issued a report last month clearing Christie of having any advance knowledge of the lane closures.

Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer told state Democratic leaders that she would have come forward with her claims of political retribution against Governor Christie’s administration sooner if the governor wasn’t a former U.S. attorney, according to a letter obtained by The Record.

Zimmer sent a letter Monday to Senate President Stephen Sweeney, Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto and the co-chairs of the legislative panel investigating the George Washington Bridge scandal – state Sen. Loretta Weinberg and Assemblyman John Wisniewski – raising concerns about a bill Christie has proposed that would require public officials to immediately report misconduct.

The mayor waited eight months before coming forward with her allegations against Christie’s office. In the letter she tells the lawmakers that she consulted the city’s redevelopment attorney, Joseph Maraziti, last May when the alleged incidents happened.

The explosive e-mails and text messages, obtained and first reported by The Record, sparked a political firestorm that extended far beyond New Jersey and Fort Lee. For full coverage, click here.

Zimmer includes with her letter photo copies of undated journal entries, which were not part of the pages she publicly disclosed earlier this year when she first made her allegations on MSNBC in January. She later met with the U.S. attorney’s office, at its request, and turned over her journal entries.

“We decided that Christie has friends throughout the U.S. attorney’s office,” she wrote in the newly disclosed journal pages. “Not much chance in getting help from them and it could create a nightmare for us.”

The letter was first reported by NJ.com Tuesday. Through a spokesman Zimmer declined to comment on the letter Tuesday.

When Christie announced last week that he was following some the recommendations of a team of attorneys he hired to conduct an internal investigation of his office, he also proposed a bill, which would require public officials to immediately report misconduct to the proper authorities.

“Prompt reporting by government officials and employees of potential unlawful behavior or conduct by those who hold positions of public trust helps to ensure proper and effective investigations and swift corrective action, which helps to restore the public’s confidence in its government,” Christie’s proposed bill states.

If the bill were to become law, a public official who does not promptly report wrongdoing could be charged with a disorderly persons offense.

Zimmer said after Christie proposed the bill, she felt the need to explain why she waited to report her claims.

Zimmer has alleged that she was pressured by Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and Richard Constable, commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs, at separate events last May to fast track a development supported by the governor or risk losing Superstorm Sandy aid.

The developer, The Rockefeller Group, was being representing at the time by the law firm of David Samson, a Christie confidant who resigned as chairman of the Port Authority’s board last month.

She later alleged that Marc Ferzan, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Rebuilding and Recovery, pressured her to support development in her city. Guadago, Constable and Ferzan have denied Zimmer’s allegations.

But Zimmer said there could be serious repercussions to the law.

“A law that punishes people for not coming forward immediately could, intentionally or otherwise, have the effect of preventing wrongdoing from coming to light rather than promoting its disclosure,” Zimmer wrote.

Weinberg said she received the letter and read Zimmer’s concerns about Christie’s proposed legislation.

“I don’t have any thoughts on it,” she said. “I’m assuming that people usually know that when something illegal happens they’re supposed to report it and maybe if Christie’s office had looked into some of these things earlier we wouldn’t be having these conversations.”

Weinberg raised questions about the lane closures at the George Washington Bridge last year before The Record obtained an email showing a top aide to the governor sent an email calling for “traffic problems” in an act of political retribution against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich. Christie fired that aide, Bridget Anne Kelly, a deputy chief of staff, and then hired attorneys to conduct the internal investigation. Those lawyers issued a report last month clearing Christie of having any advance knowledge of the lane closures.